Many pets not reclaimed after Sandy

By
Carolina Leid
and Web produced by Jennifer Matarese, Eyewitness News

NEW YORK --

There's a forewarning for anyone who lost a pet during Superstorm Sandy.

The ASPCA's emergency pet shelter in Brooklyn opened during Sandy is about to close.

Sheltering nearly 300 pets took a weight off of so many displaced people, but many pets are still unclaimed.

Late Thursday afternoon Dan Bearoff was finally reunited with his cat Bella. When Superstorm Sandy hit, his family put her in a kennel but that started getting to expensive.

That's when the ASPCA stepped with their Bedford-Stuyvesant emergency shelter.

"I hadn't even thought about the ASPCA. Because we were evacuating and I had so much on my mind. It's just been great," Bearoff said.

The ASPCA is urging pet owners to reclaim their animals as this operation winds down.

Staff and volunteers have been running the temporary boarding facility since mid-November, helping hundreds of animals displaced by Hurricane Sandy.

But they still have more than 100 cats and dogs that haven't been claimed.

"We're looking to close this operation. We're hoping people will come and reclaim their pets by this weekend. We want them to take them home," said Tim Rickey, senior director of ASPCA Field Investigations and Response.

The ASPCA added in a statement later that "We are currently focusing to reunite as many pets as possible with their owners, and then we will look at fostering as an option for those who need continued assistance with their pets. Placement will be the last phase of the operation."